Wednesday, February 25, 2015

There are more than 50 Dr. Seuss digital book apps, all of them created by Oceanhouse Media. Just search the app store (available on iOS and Android) for SEUSS and you’ll see them all. Oceanhouse uses the official Dr. Seuss illustrations staying true to his work and keeping that classic Dr. Seuss feeling as you read. I still don’t think they’ll ever completely take the place of real paper books –at least I hope not- but apps bring a whole new interactive element to a child’s reading experience.
I was curious what the top 10 downloaded Dr. Seuss apps are, so I asked Oceanhouse. Here is the line-up:Top 10 downloaded Dr. Seuss apps on iOS are…

Cat in the Hat

ABCs

Green Eggs and Ham

The Lorax

One Fish Two Fish

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Dr. Seuss Treasury

Hop On Pop

Dr. Seuss Bookshelf

Fox In Socks

GIVEAWAY

To get you started with these book apps, we've got a giveaway for 5 classics (3 Winners will be selected). Giveaway has ended. Winners have been notified.

Oceanhouse Media has offered to give away the Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1 (see my previous review of these apps here.) to three of my readers. It includes 5 classic Dr. Seuss books for iOS: The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, The FOOT Book, Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You?, and Fox in Socks, all in one convenient place.a Rafflecopter giveaway

Regular price value of $14.99. This giveaway runs Feb. 26 – March 1, 2015. 3 winners will be randomly chosen at midnight MST on March 1, 2015. I will email the code to the winner after confirmation. The code is for iOS apps.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of 3 Dr. Seuss omBooks and the Dr. Seuss Senders app for review. I’ve previously purchased many on my own too (because I love them). All opinions and experiences are my own.

I will also be giving a few Dr. Seuss ‘Happy Birthday’ book apps away on my Instagram feed this week so follow along (@victoria_obSEUSSed) to try to win a code.Dr. Seuss Apps Review:
As I mentioned I have quite a few of the digital Dr. Seuss books already but I was happy to try out a few new ones. You can see my review of Oh the Thinks You Can Think app here.
We tried I Can Read with My Eyes Shut and Oh the Places You’ll Go. They are the classic story, taken straight from the book. You can read it yourself, have it read to you and you decide when to turn the page or have it auto play where it turns the pages for you.
The ability to tap on the words or illustrations and have it say the word helps developing readers associate the words and pictures with word sounds. All the sound effects are fun for kids too.

A great feature I’ve seen on most of the books (possibly all of them) is the ability to record your own voice and you become the narrator. I like to record my voice so my kids can hear me reading the books to them as they play. My older kids like to take turns recording their voices every other page and adding sound effects at the end of their sentence.

Both of those apps are just like the books so you know what you’re getting.

I was able to try Inside Your Outside from The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library. My kids spent the most time with this app and were fascinated by all the fun facts about bodies, like having 206 bones in our body. I really appreciate this book because I have Ankylosing Spondylitis (a form of arthritis that fuses my joints together) and I have a difficult time explaining it to my kids. The section on bones and joints was really helpful to have a better discussion with my kids about my bones.

I also tried the Dr. Seuss Senders app. It offers pre-created graphics with cute Seussisms that you can share through email or save on your device and share on social media. I did suggest to Oceanhouse that it would be nice to see some square graphics that would work better to share on Instagram. They could also have more sharing options right in the app so you don’t have to save them on your device then share. But I did like the cute graphics and sayings. I think they would be cute to print a few out and send in your child’s lunch box.Dr. Seuss App Sale
Now is the time to grab your Dr. Seuss apps. Oceanhouse media has a huge sale going on this week to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America day.

This is a great time to get the Dr. Seuss Treasury(giving you access to all the Dr. Seuss book apps). I already have a huge list of the books individually, but if you are starting out this is a great option to have access to 50+ Dr. Seuss book apps. It is free to try for a week then the next time you access it, it will ask you to upgrade to the subscription. Try it FREE for 7 days, then subscribe for unlimited access to a library of 55 digital books you can take with you anywhere. This is really great for teachers to have in the classroom to reuse year after year.
If you download the Dr. Seuss Treasury (iOS) app now you can choose..

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Next week is Dr. Seuss’ birthday (March 2). Teachers and parents around the globe enjoy celebrating his birthday through crafts, activities, special food and parties. Some celebrations can be quite elaborate but there are plenty of simple ways to celebrate Dr. Seuss and Read Across America day.
In fact a quick search of the web or Pinterest will show you thousands of ideas.
Angie, from Country Chic Cottage and I are excited to share a few simple ideas to help you find something that will be just right for your home or classroom.
The ideas pictured above can be found on this Pinterest Board. Just click the links and it will take you right to the details.Follow our Simple Seuss Celebrations board on Pinterest.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

I’ve been busy the past few years celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America Day (March 2). We actually celebrate all year long by making Dr. Seuss crafts, snacks, printable worksheets, activities and more. This may be why people call me obSEUSSed.

These are a few of my favorite projects I've created. You can see more details when clicking the links below each collage.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Get ready to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday with some fun photo prop costumes.
We got to check out some fun Dr. Seuss accessories from Pure Costumes. They sent us the Lorax Truffula Tree Boppers headband, the Cat in the Hat headband and the Lorax Accessory Kit (includes hat, sun glasses and mustache). We also have a set to giveaway (see how to enter below). Here are my kids photo booth style.Costume Review:
All three products are very professionally made. They are not indestructible though, so I had to warn my kids to be soft with them so they didn’t break the first day.
The Cat in the Hat, tiny hat, was squished when it arrived. I tried to fluff it but it wouldn’t budge. I finally grabbed an empty toilet paper roll and cut about 1 inch off the end then used the remaining part of the tube to stuff in the tiny hat and it fit perfectly and helped it keep its form.
As with all photo booth props, you probably want a grown-up monitoring the use of props or kids will get out of hand with them. The mustache is held on with a plastic thread that hooks around your head. It may not be great to have multi-users with this one if kids lick it or stretch the cords.
Over all, I’m excited to use these photo booth props at our upcoming school Dr. Seuss carnival next month.
Pure Costumes offered an extra set of these Dr. Seuss costume photo props to give away to one of my readers.
GIVEAWAY ENDED 2/25/15.GIVEAWAY RULES: This contest is open to U.S. residents with a U.S. postal address. Must be age 18 or older to enter. Pure Costumes is responsible for the prize package and will ship it to the winner. Contest ends Wednesday, Feb. 25 at midnight CST.a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCOUNT:
Pure Costumes has also offered a discount code for any of my readers. Use code: OBSEUSSED to receive 10% off your subtotal. It cannot be combined with other coupon codes and it expires 10/31/15. Take a look at all their fun costumes, perfect for celebrating Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’ birthday.Disclosure: I received the 3 Dr. Seuss accessories to review for the purposes of this post. All opinions are 100% my own.Pure Costumes also has a fun free Dr. Seuss Printable.

Dr. Seuss Photo Booth:
I created a Dr. Seuss photo booth corner at our school Dr. Seuss carnival.
I used fabric (from Wal-mart) for the background and to cover the bench.
I’ve been collecting a variety of items and creating my own as props over the years.
At the carnival we had a station to make your own photo booth props. My son made this headband and attached a Lorax mustache with popsicle sticks.
Another way to make a Lorax mustache is to get a yellow feather boa (can be found at craft stores). I cut it into strips (it gets messy). Then I hot glued two craft sticks (popsicle sticks) together at an angle. Then I glued the feathers on.
I found this blank wooden had prop at Michael’s Crafts Store. My son helped paint red and white stripes on it. Then we drew black sharpie marker on the lines and added extra lines to help it look like the illustrated hat from The Cat in the Hat book.
For the Truffula Tree we found a craft feather boa at Joann’s Crafts and cut a circle from a strong poster board. I hot glued the feather boa into a circle to cover the poster board. We found a piece of scrap wood in our garage and painted it yellow and again added the black lines with a sharpie marker to add illustration details.
I cut out a white piece of felt and used a black sharpie marker to write THING 1. Then I used a safety pin to attach it to my son’s red shirt. The turquoise hair is actually an old pillow cover that got ruined so I kept part of the fabric to use as hair.
I found similar fabric on Amazon (search faux fur turquoise) you could make a bunch of little wigs or cut into strips to glue to headbands.
Pure Costumes has Thing 1 Thing 2 wigs and headbands too. I really want some of the headbands for our photo booth but they are out of stock right now. Keep checking because these will be perfect for dressing up.
I got the READ banner from Oriental Trading and the tall Cat in the Hat display from a bulletin board set. (Amazon affiliate link.)

I made the Truffula Trees using a pool noodle (again drawing black lines with a sharpie marker), a plunger from the dollar store and a spiky poof ball made out of purple and green tissue paper. You could make so many different colors.
We were lucky to have our local PBS station, KBYU, bring their Cat in the Hat character to our Dr. Seuss carnival. This year I plan to set the photo booth props right next to his station so kids can dress up and take photos with the cat.
Costumes are a great way to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America day. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway above.

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ObSEUSSed participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, "an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com." ~~~~ When I post about books, I often link to Amazon so you can see more details, pictures or summaries. I recommend checking books out from your local library first to review them, then if you want to buy them, Amazon is one option. If you buy from using the link I provide I recieve a very small percentage of the sale from Amazon.